Aston Villa's 'difference maker' who flies under the radar
Boubacar Kamara has made an impressive return to the Aston Villa side after recovering from his ACL injury earlier this season
Matty Cash has described Boubacar Kamara as a "difference maker" and admits Aston Villa miss him when he's out of the team.
Kamara suffered an ACL injury in February and missed the final three months of last season and the start of this campaign. Without him, Villa shipped two or more goals in eight of the 14 league matches the midfielder missed last term.
After returning from his serious knee injury in October, Kamara then picked up a hamstring problem in Villa's 2-0 defeat at Liverpool before the November international break, but returned to action last month against Juventus and has started the last three league matches.
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"He has so much ability - natural ability - and he’s worked really hard to get back during the time when he’s been injured," Cash admitted. "Then he had a little hamstring. He’s not really trained. How well he played against Juventus when he’s not really trained, I think he’s brilliant.
"It’s the simplicity of his game, he keeps the ball and his interceptions are unbelievable. He manages to get his body in the way and then finds a pass. Yeah, he’s a key player for us when he’s fit."
Asked how much he has been missed, Cash said: "A lot. He’s a key player for us. When he was fit, he was a difference maker. He’s a very underrated player.
"I think people talk about a lot of our players - but he’s not one of them that is spoken about. I’ve said that before. He’s a big asset and he’s underrated. So it’s good to have him back and playing like he is."
After winning back-to-back league games against Brentford and Southampton this week, Villa turn their attention to the Champions League as they take on RB Leipzig in Germany on Tuesday night (8pm kick-off).